The Past Isn't the Present or the Future
by Luminous Calamity
Summary: They didn't think meeting each other by chance at the park after school would make them open up to who they truly were to each other.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: One of my first attempts to write a story in general. Please tell me what you think because it would be nice for any kind of feedback (though constructive criticism is preferred :] )**

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Unlike most kids that sat by the window staring on out, he stared at her from his seat in the back of the room. Not that it would make much of a difference. Well, yes, to him it would. If he was staring out the window, he would be staring at nature: beautiful, but dull and unmoving, Staring at her, he would be staring at the most beautiful girl in the world. He would try to befriend her and later ask her out, but he knew he didn't have any chance of forming any sort of relationship with her.

It's quite simple, the reason why. He's the boy that hid in the shadows, praying that he wouldn't be noticed by the jocks of the school or ridiculed by the snobby girls that walk around the place like they were above everyone. She's the girl that was liked by everyone everywhere, surrounded by friends that adored her, and boys that stared at her with affection or maybe lust. He knew that he didn't have a chance with her, so he watched her from afar, daydreaming about things that would never happen. She was perfect. He was not. It was that simple.

But, she never went out with anyone, so he knew those things wouldn't happen anyway. He loved her smile that could brighten his day anytime he saw it, no matter how bad of a day he was going through. It didn't matter if it wasn't him that made her smile. Although, he would like that.

The bell rang, signaling that the end of another boring school day. A split moment later, students herded out the room, hurrying to get home to relax or fool around with friends. Packing up his stuff, he overheard some of the girl's friends trying to make plans.

"Are you sure you can't come?" asked one of her friends. He hadn't heard the first part of the conversation, but he was pretty sure that she had declined her friends' offer.

"I'm sure. I have to help my mom with something and my dad is working late today. I would love to come, but I just can't. Sorry," she apologized sheepishly. That's another thing he noticed about her, she never went out to be with friends. He wondered why. One of her friends sighed.

"You always say that. Either that, or you have too much homework. Don't you do something fun once and awhile, Namine?"

He tucked his notebook in his bag, waiting for an answer. When he didn't hear one, he looked up at the door to see her group of friends walking out the door. Hastily packing his stuff up, he went to follow them. He knew it might have seemed stalkerish, but he would take any chance he got to be near her. His attempt ended in failure when he lost them to the sea of students in the hallway. He was lucky that his locker was across from her, so he would hopefully see her there. He made his way through the pack of students that was slowly getting thinner, mumbling a few "excuse me" or "let me through"'s along the way. He finally got to his locker and through habit, looked behind him. Namine was there, but without her friends. He guessed that they left her alone after declining.

Knowing that he was too shy to come up to her and talk, he just left the school. He took the long way home instead of his daily route. He needed time to blank out and empty his mind of anything stressful. As he passed by a plaza, he thought how he could befriend her. When he finally cleared that thought out of his head, he was passing by the park.

He was used to seeing the park benches empty at this time since it was only two o'clock, so when he saw a lone figure of a girl, he stopped on the sidewalk, a few feet away from where she was sitting. She was facing the lake so he had a side view of her. Pale blond hair hung on the girl's shoulders and her pale blue eyes were unfocused and glazed over like she was deep in thought. He squinted. That face looked vaguely familiar. With a start, he realized that it was the face of _her_.

Without realizing it, he started to walk towards her. "Hey," he said, hoping to get the girl's attention. It worked. Namine snapped out of her trance and her gaze wandered to the boy that called her. She didn't say anything and just went back to staring at nothing, so he continued his walk over to where she was sitting before he stopped in front of her. "Mind if I sit?"

She shook her head and scooted over a little bit, giving him room. He sat. An awkward silence hung between them.

"So, what are you doing sitting out here?" he asked trying to break the silence. "I thought you said you need to help your mom with something?"

After a slight pause, she said, "I do, but not right now. She's at work."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. A sad expression was on her face. That didn't make sense to him. She was always happy. Was there something wrong with her personal life? He wanted to ask her what's wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to ask. After all, they weren't friends or even acquaintances for that matter.

"So why did you lie to your friends?"

Another pause. He could almost hear her gears turning, deciding if she should tell him or not. She probably was thinking he was a stalker. "I didn't lie. I do need to help my mom, but," she shifted uncomfortably. He turned his body so that it was facing her. She was twiddling with her thumbs. She stood up abruptly, surprising him. "Why am I even telling you this?" She said angrily. "I don't even know you that well."

Namine's gazed shifted to her bottom left. Her eyes drifted to him, locking eyes. She quickly looked away when she realized he was looking straight in her eyes, never wavering eye contact.

"Roxas," the girl whispered. The boy's, Roxas, eyes widened slightly and an unfamiliar feeling began to become evident in his stomach. He was surprised that the girl knew his name. He never talked to her. He never came into contact with her. He only looked on in from the outside. She looked like she was going to say more, but decided against it and shook her head. "Never mind. You never saw me here. Bye."

She grabbed her school bag and briskly walked away. Sighing, he continued his walk home. He wanted to find out more about her. The fact that she knew his name was a shock to him. He stared at the pavement the entire time and was so lost in his new thoughts, that he bumped into someone.

Books clattered to the ground and Roxas quickly bent down to retrieve the books he caused to fall. "Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going. Here," he looked up, extending his arm to give the books back. Standing in front of him, was Namine, eyes wide and trying to calculate how Roxas was there when she clearly left him a couple minutes ago. "Oh, Namine. Um-" She didn't have a chance to continue. She grabbed her books and quickly fled.

"I'm an idiot," he mumbled to himself as he continued his walk home.

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**So, what did you think?**

**Review, follow, and I'll most definitely post the next part. :)**

**Until then, au revoir.**


	2. Chapter 2

He finished his homework rather early and decided to take a walk. It was nighttime, but it was a wonderful night to go walking around. It was a past time that he did whenever he had nothing better to do. He stepped out of his apartment building and walked down his slightly busy street. Roxas's father was rich enough to have a nice, large apartment with a view of the city lights that could fit both him and his younger sister. To be honest, he didn't really like it that much.

Roxas sighed as he looked up in the night sky. He hated how he couldn't see the stars because of the city lights. Maybe he should go live out in the country when he got older, that way whenever he looked up, he wouldn't see a blank navy-blue sky. Instead, he would see small sliver lights twinkling in the dark. After walking for a couple minutes, he came to the end of his street and as he was waiting for the signal that meant he could cross and out of habit, looked up. This time, he caught a familiar sight of pale blue eyes.

Roxas blinked a couple times, rubbed his eyes and looked up again to see if his eyes were playing some kind of cruel trick on him. Namine was on the 5th floor and there was no way his eyes could see that despite his good eyesight. They weren't. He looked up again, hoping that she would be there so he could talk with her and get to know her. It was wishful thinking and he was just being selfish. Besides, she probably thought he was a stalker by now but he didn't care about what she thought about him; he just wanted to be with her because no matter what she did, he thought she was the perfect girl.

The signal changed, signaling that he could cross, but Roxas didn't care about his walk anymore. Surveying the apartment from the top to bottom, Roxas made the impromptu decision to go inside to see what her apartment building was, so he pushed open the front doors and strode inside. He ignored his surroundings, since it was very much like his own, and headed straight for the elevator. He jammed his index finger multiple times mumbling, "Hurry up. Hurry up."

_Bing!_ The elevator had arrived on the ground floor.

The elevator doors opened and he was about to step in when he heard a soft voice say,"Oh, Roxas. I was just going to go outside to talk to you."

He didn't say anything as he looked up and stepped in the elevator. He was too busy wondering why Namine took the elevator down just to talk to him. She never talked to him...ever. Well, expect for that one moment today when he saw her sulking in the park and tried to comfort her but ended up frustrating her even more.

Namine poked the '5' elevator button, a slight blush on her face, and he felt the elevator start to shoot upward. There was still a silence as they went up, but instead of an awkward silence that normal took place between two strangers, it was a bit comforting as if they were beginning to enjoy each other's company.

He risked a glance at the girl who turned away a moment after they locked eyes. It frustrated him to no end how she was always avoiding eye contact with him. He wasn't intimidating, so why did she look away whenever he looked in her eyes? What was her secret? He wanted to know.

Arriving at the 5th floor, Namine stepped out first with Roxas following closely behind. He followed her to a room marked '5-7' and watched her pull out her key, insert it in the lock, and turn it slowly. She pushed the door open and opening it wide. She gestured him to go in before her. Shaking his head, he said, "Ladies first."

Namine looked at the boy curiosity, wondering how the boy from school could be so polite. The boys that she knew, were always rude and sometimes disrespectful. For a brief second, she wondered if he was playing with her feelings. Shrugging, she stepped in her apartment with Roxas closing the door behind them.

He stood there awkwardly, hands shoved in pockets and turning his head so he could survey the room around him.

"You can sit on the couch, I'm gonna get something to drink. Do you want a soda?" she asked already leaving the room.

"That would nice, thanks."

When she was gone, he stood up and made his way over to the window, where there were three pictures. One of them had a woman and a man, their arms wrapped around each other, smiling like they were having a good time. They must have been Namine's parents; she looked a lot like her mom. Another picture had a older looking version of her parents and a younger looking version of Namine. Roxas smiled just looking at it. Namine had this carefree look to her face instead of the sad, depressed look he saw on her face today. She looked even happier than she normally did. The last picture was the most recent one and contained a younger image of her current self. SHe looked about twelve in the photo

Roxas picked up the one with Namine and her family in it. They all looked happy, just like a family should be, not like his broken, torn apart family. She was lucky. She had friends, perfect grades, and a happy family; it was almost everything that Roxas wanted.

"Um, hey," Roxas heard Namine's voice from behind him. "I brought the soda. I hope you don't mind-"

"I don't mind. I like any kind of soda," Roxas said flatly, placing the picture frame back where he found it.

"What are you doing?" he heard Namine ask before hearing her oncoming footsteps.

He turned around, expecting to see an angry expression on Namine's face since she seemed like the type that didn't like people probing into her privacy. Instead, he just saw a curious expression.

He gestured to the photo frames. "Sorry, I just saw these pictures and was curious. Sorry."

Stopping a couple feet away from him, she glanced at the three pictures. She came closer and Roxas backed into a wall to give her space. Namine stopped in front of the three picture, looking at each of them carefully before picking up the one of her and her family. She stared at the photo, her eyes glazed over like this afternoon.

"Um...Namine?" Roxas asked.

Namine's head snapped up and she placed the picture back down. "Hmm?" She turned to Roxas. "Nothing," said Roxas.

Ignoring the questioning look he gave her, Namine made her way back to the couch where the soda was. Roxas followed her and sat down on a couch in front of her.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Roxas asked leaning back.

For a moment, a shocked look appeared on her face. Then she looked away, her cheeks turning pink. "Um," she looked at Roxas nervously. Namine felt her face heat up and she hoped she wasn't blushing.

She asked him to come on an impulse, but the real reason was because she wanted to get to know him better. She's seen him around school, always avoiding eye contact or a conversation. It was like he was _trying_ to hide himself and not get noticed. It worked...on other people. But not on her, she had taken notice a loong time ago during eighth grade when he had first came at the start of the school year. She always tried to talk to him, but her friends would always come up and start talking about the latest gossip. As soon as she got rid of the person, she would try to go find him, but he was gone. After all, he was someone that didn't like being noticed.

Roxas leaned forward a bit. "What's wrong?" he asked, sounding a bit concerned. "You look a bit red, are you okay?" He brought his hand up to her forehead. Namine slapped his hand away, shaking her head.

"I'm fine and uh, to tell the truth," she felt her face heat up even more and avoided eye contact, "I really forgot what I wanted to tell you."

A relieved expression formed on Roxas's face. "Oh, you did?"

She nodded. Roxas stood up. "Well, if that's it then, I guess I should go. Sorry for disturbing you. If you ever remember, you can tell me at school if you like."He smiled.

As he headed for the door, Namine watching his retreating back, she felt a tinge of sadness. She wanted to tell him to stay. She wanted to say the she liked him because he wasn't like anyone else. He wasn't like those boys that just wanted her for her looks. He was cutely awkward and had an amazing personality. He always hid it at school, but sometimes when he was walking home, his little sister would greet him and then he would truly be there.

Before she knew it, she had stood up and was rushing towards him. "Wait."

"Huh?" Roxas turned around only to be met by a pair of lips that were interlocked with his. He felt a pair of arms snake around his neck, and fingers that became entangled in his unruly brown hair. His eyes widened at the sudden intimacy but he slowly closed his eye, choosing to enjoy the moment. He slowly brought his right hand to her chin, tilting it a bit up. His left hand snaked around her waist and he brought her closer to him. That moment, he felt like the only people in the world, were him and Namine.

After who knows who long, she felt Roxas breakaway, a blush on both of their checks. "S-sorry," she stuttered nervously looking downward. "I shouldn't have done that."

"I-it's okay," he said. Roxas felt a bit uncomfortable as Namine lifted her head to meet his gaze. Pale blue eyes met his dark brown eyes and both teenagers felt a fleet of emotions stir within them.

Feeling awkward, Roxas looked away and set his hand on the doorknob. "Well, I have to go. My dad is probably waiting for me. So, um, I'll see you tomorrow?"

He opened the door, waiting in the doorway for a response. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said softly.

With a smile he said, "Good night," and closed the door. Once the door was closed, Namine brought her hand to where Roxas's lips were just a few moments ago. They were so soft, so gentle, so unlike what she thought they were.

Meanwhile, Roxas could still feel her small, petite body pressed against his. She felt so warm and so delicate. It was one of those perfect life moments that he had read in books and always imagined would happen to him. Feeling happy, he poked the elevator button and headed on home.

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**R&R please (:**

**Reviews**** welcomed**


	3. Chapter 3

That night, both teenagers laid in their bed, each thinking about the other.

A 15 year-old boy was laying on his back staring at the ceiling with a smile on his face that he couldn't leave his face. When Roxas walked in with that smile on his face, his father looked at him questionably and asked what had happened. At that question, he tried to remove his smile and say nothing did, but his facial muscles refused to cooperate and formed back into a smile, effectively proving his statement wrong. He had kissed his long time crush and she was the one that kissed him first. Of course something had happened.

'_Does she like me?'_ he thought. '_She was the one that kissed me first.'_

He shook the thoughts off, he would ask her tomorrow the first chance he gets. When she is alone of course. He didn't want to embarrass her in front of her friends, especially since he was a nobody from the bottom of the social food chain.

Happy for the first time in years, he fell asleep, a smile on his face.

_He was back at the park, where he saw Namine that day. This time, she wasn't sitting down at the bench with a glazed over look in her eye. In fact, she was nowhere to be seen, but Roxas could sense that she was near. Very near._

_He walked over to the the large lake that was right across from the bench. Street lamps outlined the shape of the body of water, giving the lake a bold, midnight shade of blue. Roxas didn't know what he was doing there, but for some reason, he felt like he needed to stay there until someone came._

Namine tried everything to go to sleep. Milk, shower, even sleeping pills, but after attempting to count sheep, she accepted the fact that she wasn't going to get much sleep that night. She came to the conclusion that a certain boy was the cause for her insomnia.

Namine turned onto her side and replayed that night's events in her head. It was too surreal. She thought it was a dream, but after falling backward on her butt after he left proved her wrong had told her it was real. She had ran up to him and kissed him. At that thought, her face heated up.

What if he pretends that those events didn't happen? She thought, turning on her side. She quickly shrugged it off. He kissed back, there was no way he would ignore her. It was obvious that he liked her and she made it plainly obvious that she liked him too. There were no words of the sort exchanged, but both just knew that they had feelings for the other. If the entire school found out about this, he would be in trouble.

Namine didn't really care about her image and what people thought about her, but she wasn't sure if Roxas was the same way she was. On the bright side, no one knew who he was and he wouldn't really be judged... But that was the exact reason why he would be judged.

Namine turned back onto her back sighing. She was over thinking things. He won't ignore her at school the next day. At least she hoped he didn't.

_She found herself sitting on the ground staring at the lake. It took a few moments for her to recognize the body of water and identify it as the lake at the park where which she stared at as she sat on the near-by bench. She stood up, dusting the dirt off her shorts, and since she had no practical place to go, let her feet go where they wanted._

_The next thing she knew, she was behind the bench she was at earily. In front of her was a boy, the back of his brown hair unruly and messy. Wanting to get a better look and careful not to make a sound, Namine walked to other side of the bench where the boy wasn't sitting. _

_Namine leaned forward and tilted her head to the side. The boy gave notice of her presence and continued to blankly stare at the lake. "Um...excuse me?" She tapped him on the shoulder._

"_Hmm?" He blinked suddenly aware of his surroundings. He turned his head to look at the person that snapped him out of his trance. His brown eyes widened. "Namine?"_

_Then the identity of the boy became clear to Namine. She could see the familiar short, brown hair and the careful glint that made its home in his mysterious brown eyes. Her own blue eyes widened at the realization. "Roxas? What are you doing here? Wait, is this a dream? It seems so...colorless."_

_Roxas stood up from his spot on the bench and turned his body so that it was facing Namine. He looked around the monotonous world. "I guess, but it's only a dream so I guess that means I dreamt you up."_

_Something about his words seemed weird, Namine realized. One does not say, "I dreamt you up" when you are clearly in your own dream. She looked at Roxas curiously, but went along with it._

_Roxas began muttering to himself. "Do I really like her that much that I would see her in one of my dreams?"_

"_What was that?" Namine asked, leaning forward curiously. "I didn't hear you."_

_Roxas looked up, startled. "Wh-what? Oh, nothing." Blushing, he looked away out of embarrassment from his bold statement. Even though it was a dream and the real Namine wouldn't even know about his statement, he still felt the need to be embarrassed. Maybe it was just because his dream simply had Namine in it._

_Believing it was a dream, he stepped forward closing the gap between them. Without a moment's hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her. He felt the girl stiffen slightly at the sudden gesture, but after a moment, he felt her relax and wrap her arms around him. He bowed his head. His head touched hers. He breathed in, inhaling her intoxicating scent. _

"_Namine, I like you," he murmured._

"_I like you too, Roxas," Namine murmured back._

_Roxas's eyes snapped wide open at Namine's words. He wasn't sure he heard her correct, but he didn't want it to seem like he wasn't paying attention, so he just hugged her tighter and whispered, "I know."_

Roxas woke up on his own without the assistance of his alarm clock. Peering over his blankets, he glanced at the clock and cursed when he read the time. He had woke up an hour later than he normally did and would for sure be late. School started in ten minutes and Roxas was still in his boxers.

He quickly grabbed a plain black shirt and slipped on his jeans. He hopped around on one foot in an attempt to put on a sock and gather his school supplies at the same time. Before he put his materials in his bag, he slipped on his other sock and his black converse. Once he was done, he rushed out his room, flew down the stairs-combing his hair with his hands as he did so- and was out the door within a minute after he got out of bed.

He got to school in five minutes and stood panting and breathing hard in front of his locker. Hastily, he turned the knob to the correct numbers and pulled on the lock. When it didn't open he tried the combination again and got groaned in frustration when it didn't work. He looked at the time on his phone. He had one minute to get to class. He was most definitely going to be late.

"Um..." A soft voice spoke from behind him. He turned around. Standing behind him dressed in a plain white button up and jeans, was Namine. The bell rang, meaning he was late. As the bell rang, they both just stood there motionless staring at each other. When the ringing subsided, Namine said, "That's my locker."

He glanced over at the locker number and his eyes widened when he saw she was right. "Oh, I'm sorry! I was in a rush and..." He stopped talking when he noticed that she was staring at him strangely. He scratched the back of his head. "I'll just go to my actual...yeah..."

He awkwardly walked across the hallway to his own locker. He opened his locker and grabbed his supplies for his first period. Out of habit, he looked behind him and saw Namine facing her locker. She turned her head and their eyes met.

They just stood there motionless like before and stared at each other eyes. He noticed Namine's face becoming flushed and he could feel his own face heating up as well. He remembered the events that had happened last night and a wisp of the dream he had last night. He knew she like him, but they couldn't hang out the entire day due to the stupidity of the high school social food chain.

He quickly turned away so his face would stop blushing and his heart would slow down. Then without saying anything to Namine, he ran to his first class.

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**R&R please x)**

**I don't care if its good or bad, they both help me in a way. Strangely enough...**


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